power. Since the Waverley novels, the most perfect specimen of English
historical fiction has been "Henry Esmond." The artistic construction
of its plot, and the life-like reality of its characters, place it
first among Thackeray's works. But its pre-eminence among historical
novels is due to the fact that it reproduces so vividly the spirit and
atmosphere of a past age. All the thoughts, opinions, and actions of
the characters in "Henry Esmond" are such as we should expect from
persons living in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Whoever is
familiar with the pages of the "Spectator" will notice how faithfully
Thackeray adopted the language of Steele and Addison. It is true that
he had a far less difficult task before him in describing the age of
Queen Anne than fell to the lot of Bulwer Lytton in "The Last Days of
Pompeii." The latter work required far more historical research and a
far greater effort of the imagination. But while in Lytton's novel the
reader cannot divest himself of a certain sense of unreality, he feels
that "Henry Esmond" really carries him back to the period it portrays.

George Eliot's "Romola" must always retain a high place in historical
fiction. But its author's great creative power led her to bestow more
pains on such of the characters as proceeded from her own imagination,
than on those whom history provided ready-made. The reader's memory
retains a more vivid impression of Tito than it does of Savonarola.
Charles Kingsley's "Hypatia" and "Westward Ho!" are among the most
prominent of recent historical novels. The latter aimed at describing
the time of Elizabeth, but resembles more closely that of Cromwell.
John Gibson Lockhart, in "Valerius," and Mr. Wilkie Collins in
"Antonina," have studied the life of ancient Rome. James Fenimore
Cooper in "The Spy" and "The Pioneers" threw into bold relief the
stirring incidents of American colonial and revolutionary times.
Nathaniel Hawthorne reproduced the spirit of Puritan New England in